Tennessee Bill May Expose Identities Of Women Seeking Abortions/Providers who perform them

**Sera** · 2012-03-19 08:04

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012...ing-abortions/

Mar 19, 2012 at 8:30 am
Tennessee lawmakers will consider a controversial measure on Wednesday that could intimidate women seeking abortions by requiring that the names of doctors who perform the procedures be published online. The legislation, known as the Life Defense Act of 2012 or House Bill 3808, would restrict access to the procedure in to ways:
The first would require doctors to have admitting privileges at a hospital near where they perform abortions, while the second would require the Department of Health to release more information on abortions, including the name of the doctor who performed the procedure and demographics about the women who receive them.

The measure’s sponsor, Rep. Matthew Hill, R-Jonesborough, said at an initial hearing on the bill earlier this month that the reporting requirement writes into law a form that the Department of Health already asks providers to fill out whenever they perform an abortion.
“The Department of Health already collects all of the data, but they don’t publish it,” he said. “All we’re asking is that the data they already collect be made public.”
But the measure goes beyond existing reporting requirements and could undermine women’s right to privacy by allowing opponents to identify — harass and intimidate — patients who undergo the procedure.

The state’s Department of Health already reports information on the age, race, education, and number of children of women who receive abortions, and aggregates the data by region, “making it impossible for others to figure out who underwent an abortion procedure.” This bill, however, would require the department “to release patient data broken down by county” and could “reveal the identities of some women who receive abortions, particularly in small, rural communities.” “I think in some small communities that woman would be identified,” State Rep. Gary Odom (D) warned when a subcommittee advanced the measure earlier this month. “I think that by publicizing this, it would have serious consequences. … We know what has happened to physicians who perform abortions that there has been violence. … There could be violence against the women. … This is a dangerous piece of legislation. … I think this is full of meanness.”

Abortion providers could also be at risk, as abortion foes would now have a comprehensive list of the names of the doctors who perform the procedure. “In an environment where doctors are victims of violence — and we’ve had physicians who provide abortion care murdered in the past few years — I think this is an attempt to intimidate and allow for providers to be terrorized,” said Jeff Teague, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Middle and East Tennessee.

LOL HIPAA WHAT? That only applies to PEOPLE, not women!

Why don't we just go back to painting red A's on people? Only this one will mean abortion.

**Tajin** · 2012-03-19 08:21

Sometimes I wonder how my life would be if I was friends with the kind of people that comes up with this bullshit. But then I get a new dealer.

**Sera** · 2012-03-19 08:25

We could just give each woman a t-shirt with a GIANT TARGET ON IT

and in the middle of the target is a dead fetus.

Whaddaya say

**Lucavi** · 2012-03-19 08:29

Who needs the goddamn HIPAA anyway. These women are animals for having children and getting rid of them, and animals have no God, and the HIPAA doesn't apply to Godless heathens, so we're straight.

**Dantrag** · 2012-03-19 08:34

Umm yeah, that doesn't seem any sorts of illegal at all...

**Headspace** · 2012-03-19 10:07

Originally Posted by Dantrag

Umm yeah, that doesn't seem any sorts of illegal at all...

Hence them passing a law

**Myrrh_Quetz** · 2012-03-19 10:11

I don't see how this can be passed. It's fucking retarded.

**Ragnus** · 2012-03-19 10:15

See, that's the thing. It may seem illegal but they can fall back on "It's only data, not a name." excuse when HIPAA gets brought up. Even if that data can narrow it down to a handful of individuals in a given rural community. It's a scary bill in how well it's phrased.

"Oh hey, a white woman between 25 and 35 years of age in our county got an abortion. Wasn't Bob's daughter pregnant up until a few days ago?"

Even if the hypothetical daughter actually miscarried naturally, she'll be harassed because of ignorant conclusions drawn.

**Dantrag** · 2012-03-19 10:16

Originally Posted by Headspace

Hence them passing a law

There is no way even if it passed that it would be legal is more so my point. This would violate HIPPA 9 ways to the moon. This would basically incite a ton of violence.

**Greatguardian** · 2012-03-19 10:19

Originally Posted by Sera

Why don't we just go back to painting red A's on people? Only this one will mean abortion.

I know you're being facetious, but this is a pretty accurate sentiment.

Open a sentence with "Why don't we just go back to ..." and close with anything that was around pre-1960 and you'll have a pretty solid handle on modern conservative thought.

**Cleveland_7795** · 2012-03-19 14:10

All the same info is required for Doctors who deliver babies.

**Acturus** · 2012-03-19 15:27

Originally Posted by Cleveland_7795

All the same info is required for Doctors who deliver babies.

source?

**Xno Kappa** · 2012-03-19 15:55

Can't this be appealed?

**Coren** · 2012-03-19 15:58

Originally Posted by Hirokei Kiaza

Can't this be appealed?

It can be slapped down by any number of courts, or the DoJ could challenge it. I'm not so sure you can "appeal" a law that is signed. Though you can sue to have it halted before implementation.

/notalawyer

**Correction** · 2012-03-19 16:34

Originally Posted by Cleveland_7795

All the same info is required for Doctors who deliver babies.

So what if it is?

**Indeed** · 2012-03-19 23:28

There's no history of violence against doctors for delivering babies.

**Stanislaw** · 2012-03-20 03:54

Originally Posted by Indeed

There's no history of violence against doctors for delivering babies.

I'm sure there are some cases in which it has happened before. Minor it may be.

**Dantrag** · 2012-03-20 07:43

Originally Posted by Stanislaw

I'm sure there are some cases in which it has happened before. Minor it may be.

Probably has more to do with delivery going wrong more so than the direct relation to the profession.

**Sera** · 2012-03-20 08:33

Originally Posted by Dantrag

Probably has more to do with delivery going wrong more so than the direct relation to the profession.

This. Birth isn't controversial unless something goes wrong, & in those cases people take to the courtrooms to seek restitution more often than not. Plenty of people have taken the law into their own hands when outraged about abortion. There's plenty of precedent for this to be a concern re: abortion docs & patients. Not so much for OBGYNS and births.

**Niiro** · 2012-03-20 09:45

Originally Posted by Sera

Plenty of people have taken the law into their own hands when outraged about abortion.

Poor choice of words.

I wouldn't call harassment, vandalism and, in the most extreme cases, terrorism, to be one "taking the law" into one's own hands.

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